Dougherty, Peter - Who's Afraid of Adam Smith.pdf

Review



"...Mr. Dougherty knows both business and the business of books. The result is an engaging read...[the book is a] balanced and judicious guide through fascinating material..." (The Wall Street Journal, November 13, 2002)

"retrieves Smith's forgotten side for the average reader...lively tour of economic thought..." (SmartMoney, February 2003)

From the Inside Flap



Economic thinkers and policymakers have long regarded Adam Smith’s great work, The Wealth of Nations, as a guide to the mysteries of the market. Now, in this spirited and timely book, Peter Dougherty shows how economists are drawing on the Scotsman’s civic writings, most notably A Theory of Moral Sentiments, to illuminate how the market creates not only fiscal capital but "social capital." Although the social dimension of economic thinking begun by Smith some two centuries ago has waxed and waned through the years, Dougherty demonstrates how Smith’s ideas are currently experiencing a renaissance in a host of cutting-edge policy directions. The book emphasizes this newly revived aspect of Smith’s "Enlightenment" thought to underscore the oft-challenged contention that the market is not simply a shortcut to an economic end; quite the opposite: a healthy capitalism is itself a means–arguably the most effective and enduring means–toward a more civil, urbane, neighborly society.

Dougherty explores several impressive initiatives to demonstrate what today’s theoretical and practicing economists are accomplishing in the spirit of Adam Smith’s moral sentiments: the institutional reform of transitional and developing economies; the financing of new technological, medical, and educational initiatives; the expansion of home ownership and savings in impoverished communities; and the economic revival of cities. Incentives are integrated into these undertakings to make them not only beneficial for the people they are fashioned to help but attractive to investors, businesses, and the broader economic interests of society.



In the course of his argument, Dougherty follows Adam Smith’s ideas through several generations of economic thought, from nineteenth-century economic philosophers such as Alfred Marshall, who maintained a focus on moral sentiments while extending the field’s technical reach, to twentieth-century giants such as John Maynard Keynes, Paul Samuelson, and Milton Friedman, whose analytical economics have served to defend and expand market democracy.



A longtime economics publisher, Dougherty also debunks the popular myth of economists as gray-garbed number crunchers practicing a merely "dismal science." On the contrary, he emphasizes their deeper identity as intellectual architects in the ongoing civilizing enterprise of Adam Smith and his fellow worldly philosophers. Recounting with humor and verve his own improbable twenty-year editorial odyssey among the "academic scribblers" of economics, Dougherty makes a vigorous case that economists have a far greater impact on the culture than is usually recognized, and that this impact is likely to have welcome consequences in the revival of civil society. Capitalism pervades all aspects of our daily life. Peter Dougherty now offers a fascinating peek at its hidden soul.

From the Back Cover



Praise for Who's Afraid of Adam Smith?

"Mr. Dougherty examines the ways in which various thinkers are now applying Smith's principles to the task of cultivating a civil society. . . . [Dougherty] makes it clear that when we remain true to Adam Smith's original moral intentions, only the naive of the nursery school need fear him."

–—Darrin M. McMahon, The Wall Street Journal



"It's reminiscent of a wide-ranging coffee-shop conversation with a charming and knowledgeable enthusiast who truly believes economics matters—–as it does. Dougherty can't resist the intriguing insight, the scholarly nuance that advances our understanding of how a market economy works."

–—Christopher Farrell, BusinessWeek Online



"Who's Afraid of Adam Smith? is perfectly accessible to any intelligent reader. And when reaching for a metaphor, Dougherty is more likely to use popular references—–to films like Raising Arizona or The Godfather—–than appeals to economic principles or theory."

–—Rob Norton, Journal of Economic Literature



"Dougherty shows how succeeding generations of economists have taken what they liked from Smith while leaving a good deal of valuable insight in the attic. Today's economists at last are performing an inventory, in the name of building a better understanding of the nature of the complicated civil society that undergirds our economic system."

–—David Warsh, Economic Principals



"A fascinating journey into the history of economic thought as it took root from Adam Smith's ideas by such economists like Marshall, Keynes, Samuelson, Friedman, Romer, and Markowitz amongst others is limned by the author. It is spellbinding for anybody interested in economics."

–—Chetan Parihk, Capital Ideas Online



" . . . retrieves Smith's forgotten side for the average reader . . . lively tour of economic thought . . ."

–—Roger Lowenstein, SmartMoney

About the Author



PETER J. DOUGHERTY is Publisher and Senior Economics Editor of Princeton University Press. His occasional writings have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Journal of Economic Literature, Economics and Portfolio Strategy, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the American Sociologist.